Refrigerator



No. 625,30I. Patented May I6, I899.

. W. C. HEBRICK.

REFRIGERATOR.

(Application filed Sept. 1, 1898.) LjNo Model.) 2 Sheets-Sheet I.

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Th5 Noam PETERS ca, PHOTO-LUNG.WASMAGYDN a c No. 625,30l.

Patented May 16, I899. W. C. HEBBICK.

REFRIGERATOR.

(Application filed Sept. 1, 1898.)

(No Model.)

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' V gmwwtoz w vtmaoow (I I). I l I w: NORRIS Pz'rzns co. FNOTO-UTHO, msnmsw NITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

WILLIAM C. HERRIOK, OF WAPELLO, IOlVA.

REFRIGERATOR.

SPECiFICA'IiON forming part of Letters Patent No. 625,301, dated May 16,1899.

Application filed September 1, 1898. Serial No. 690,021. (No model.)

To all whom, it 17mg concern Be it known that I, WILLIAM C. I'IERRIOK, a citizen of the United States, residing at /Vapello, in the county of Louisa and State of Iowa, have invented a certain new and useful Improvement in Refrigerators, of which the following is a specification.

My invention relates to improvements in refrigerators, and has for one of its objects to provide a refrigerator in which the space in its interior may be utilized to the best advantage for storing articles of different sizes and in which cold may be radiated from all parts of the ice, and hence the ice be utilized to its maximum capacity in cooling the interior of the refrigerator.

Another object of my invention is to provide a refrigerator in which a perfect circulation of air is had through all parts of its interior, the accumulation of moisture at the top of the interior prevented, and the drip from the ice be kept away from the sides of the refrigerator and conveyed into a pan below the ice.

Another object of my invention is to provide an improved vertically-adjustable rack to receive the ice, whereby the size of the icechamber may be made to correspond with the quantity of ice it is to contain, so that the storage-space within the refrigerator not used for ice may receive other articles to be cooled.

Another object of my invention is to provide improved means for collecting the drip from the ice, for storing it within the refrigerator to be drawn off for drinking purposes, &c., and in this connection to provide a drippan adapted to fit under the ice-rack and be vertically adjustable therewith and which may be readily and easily detached and removed from the refrigerator to be cleaned and which is also designed to receive a filterin g material, through which all the drip from the ice must pass before entering the watertank.

These objects I accomplish in the manner and by the means hereinafter more fully described in detail and particularly pointed out in the claims, reference being had to the accompanying drawings, in which like figures represent like parts in all the views.

Figure 1 is a front elevation of a refrigerator with my invention, partly broken away to show the interior. Fig. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view of same. Fig. 3 is a transverse sectional view of same. Fig. 4 is a de tail view of bed for ice-rack and drip-pan. Fig. 5 is a detail view of the ice-pan. Fig. 6 is a cross-sectional view of the frame and icepan with rack in place.

Referring to the accompanying drawings, 1 is the frame of a refrigerator, preferably double-walled and provided with suitable doors 2, located in the refrigerator shown in the drawings in front, but which may be located at the sides or top, as desired. A transverse vertical partition 3 divides the interior of the refrigerator into two compartments. Said partition 3 extends from a short distance above the floor of the refrigerator to within a short distance of the roof, the top of said partition 3 being inclined at an angle over and to about the center of the compartment of the refrigerator in which the ice is placed. The openings at the top and bottom of said partition 3 permit the free circulation of air from one compartment to the other. Notched.

uprights t are fixed opposite each other in one of said compartments, so that the notches on one face the notches on another. Shelves 5, preferably slatted, rest on said notches and may be adjusted by means of said notches at any desired distance apart, so as to receive articles of different sizes. In the remaining compartment similar notched uprights 6 are similarly placed, and also at the sides of this compartment, as well as the inner surface of the door 2, which enters this compartment, a series of vertical flat strips 7 are placed, reaching to within a short distance of the top, and across these strips 7 at suitable intervals guards 8 are placed. Said guards 8 project sufficiently far out to reach over the edges of the ice-pan 9 and have at their outer edges downward-projecting flanges 10 and serve the double purpose of keeping the ice from coming in contact with the walls of the refrigerator and to carry the water from the ice into the pan 9. The sides of said pan 9are higher than the ends, and when the pan 9 goes in the side guards 8 act as grooves to hold the pan 9 firmly in place, while the ends of the pan 9 pass under the front and rear guards 8, which do not come down and over clamp-like as the side guards 8 do. A rectangular frame 11, open in the center, the top of said frame 11 inclined downward toward said opening and the bottom of said frame 11, on each side of said opening, provided with slides 12, adapted to receive the edges of the drip-pan 13, rests on the notches of said uprights 6 and is adapted to be adjusted vertically. The ice-pan 9 consists of a rim 14, adapted to rest on the frame 11, said rim 14 having its sides higher than its ends and its bottom pieces extending inwardly and downwardly, so that the water from the ice supported within this rim 14 will be conducted to the opening in the center of the rim 14. Flat metal bars 15 rest within said rim 14: and have a series of V-shaped metal bars 16 fixed thereto, forming a grate upon which the ice rests. A drip-pan 13 has flanges 18, extending outwardly from the top of its sides and adapted to engage the slides 12 and a bottom inclined downwardly and toward the center at the back, where it terminates in a spout 10. In the drip-pan 13 filtering material 20, preferably briclcclay, tile, or porous stone, is placed sutficient to approximately fill said pan 13. At the rear of this compartment of the refrigerator is placed a U-shaped chute 21, terminating in a round spout 22. This chute 21 is designed to receive the rear end of spout 19, and hence all of the water passing through the drip-pan 13 will be conveyed through this chute 21. A tank 23, here shown L-shaped, fitting in a recess in the walls and closed on the top and sides, is placed in the bottom of this compartment of the refrigerator. An opening 24 is formed in the top of the tank 23 directly under the spout 22 and a pipe 25 leads from the opening 24 to a point near the bottom of the tank 23, so that the cold water may pass directl y to the bottom of the tank 23. Afaucet 26 passes through the wall of the refrigerator and is screwed into the tank 23 a little below the level of the botton of the pipe 25 to permit water to be drawn from the tank 23. Near the top of the tank 23 is an overflow-pipe 27, arranged so that the warmest water in the tank 23 will drip into the pan in the bottom of this compartment of the refrigerator when the tank 23 becomes too full.

It is obvious that the ice-pan 0 may be placed at any height that is necessary to permit the desired quantity of ice to be placed above it, leaving all the rest of the space for other articles; that a free circulation of air is had from the bottom of the ice downwardly for the reason that there is a considerable space between the bottom of the grate on which the ice rests and the top of the drip pan l3 and because the drip-pan 13 is much smaller than the interior of the compartment, so that the cold from the ice may radiate downwardly and outwardly around the drippan 13; that all of the drip from the ice will be conveyed to a tank 23, from which it may be drawn oif for drinking purposes, and this water is thus collected and drawn off no matter at what point of elevation the ice-pan 9 may be and also without stopping or interfering in any way with the circulation of air from the bottom of the chamber; that a free circulation of air around the side of the icechamber is provided at all times by means of the flat strips 7, which surround the ice-chamber and provide a series of flues around the ice chamber, which fines, as hereinbefore stated, extend only to a point near the top of the refrigerator, and hence the air-currents passing through the flues will not strike the top of the refrigerator, but will be difiused and spread out, thus preventing the deposit of a quantity of moisture on the top, as would be the case if the currents of moisture-laden air struck directly against the top; that the drip-pan 13 may be readily and quickly detached at any time and the filter therein easily and conveniently cleaned; that the tank 23 for containing the filtered water by being located, as shown in the drawings, in a recess in the walls of the refrigerator is made to occupy a minimum of the available space within the refrigerator, (anyform of tank 23, however, may be used, it being necessary only that it have an opening registering with the spout 22,) and that the openings at the top and bottom of the partition 3 will provide for a free circulation of air through both compartments of the refrigerator, the inclined top of said partition 2 tending to convey the warm air directly over the ice, and hence the refrigerator will be maintained at the same temperature throughoutits interior.

I have described a tank in connection with my refrigerator, but the same forms no part of my invention and may be omitted at pleasure.

Having thus described my invention, what I claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

1. In a refrigerator, a compartment designed to contain ice, an ice-supporting rack within said compartment, means for vertically adjusting said ice-supporting rack, a drip-pan connected with said ice-supporting rack and provided with a spout, and an open chute vertically fixed to the back of the interior of said compartment and adapted to receive said spout and to convey the drip-water from the pan to a point of discharge, substantially as shown and described.

2. In a refrigerator, the combination of a compartment designed to contain ice, and having notched uprights at its corners, a rectangular frame adj ustably supported on said notched uprights, a rim of a size to approximately fill the interior of the ice-chamber, and having its bottom edges inclined downwardly and inwardly designed to rest upon the said frame, an ice-supporting rack or grate within said rim, slides fixed to the said frame and projecting downwardly therefrom, a drip-pan supported in said slides at some distance beneath the ice-supporting rack, a spout at one side of said drip-pan, and a chute or gutter fixed to the interior of the refrigerator, to re ceive said spout and to convey the drip-water to apoint of discharge, substantially as shown and described.

3. In a refrigerator, the combination of a compartment designed to contain ice,and having notched uprights at its corners, a rectangular frame adjustably supported on said notched uprights, a rim of a size to approxim ately fill the interior of the ice-chamber,and having its bottom edges inclined downwardly and inwardly designed to rest upon the said frame, an ice-supporting rack or grate within said rim, slides fixed to the said frame and projecting downwardly therefrom, a drip-pan supported in said slides at some distance beneath the ice-supporting rack, a filtering material contained within the drip-pan, and a chute or gutter fixed to the interior of the refrigerator to receive said spout and to convey the drip-water to a point of discharge, substantially as shown and described.

4. In a refrigerator, an ice-chamber, an icesupporting rack in said chamber, flat strips fixed vertically on the walls of said chamber, said strips beginning at a distance from the floor of said chamber and ending at a distance from the top of the same, and guards secured at intervals across said strips, said guards extending outwardly and provided at their outer edges with downwardly-projecting flanges and said strips and guards forming lines for the circulation of air, substantially as shown and described.

5. In a refrigerator, a central transverse partition reaching neither to the floor nor roof of said refrigerator, said partition toward the top inclined at an angle toward the end of the refrigerator, a series of flat strips fixed vertically to the walls of the compartment over which the top of said partition projects, guards secured at intervals across said strips, said guards projecting outward and provided at their outer edges with downwardly-extending flanges, an ice-supporting rack adapted to slide in under said side guards, leaving space for the circulation of air between said strips and around said ice-rack and a series of adjustable open racks in the other compartment, substantially as shown and described.

In testimony whereof I hereto affix my signature in the presence of two Witnesses.

IVILLIAM O. HERRICK. 

